The killer who shot dead a banker on the doorstep of his family home will not come forward following an emotional appeal from the victim’s son because he is ‘likely a member of an organised crime network’, a criminologist has claimed.
Father-of-two Alistair Wilson, 30, a Bank of Scotland business banking manager, was killed at his home in Nairn, a town in the Scottish Highlands, in November 2004.
His son Andrew, who was just four at the time, last month delivered an emotional appeal for information ahead of the 16th anniversary of the killing, saying his only memory of his late father is seeing him lying in a pool of his own blood.
But David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, told the BBC’s The Doorstep Podcast such an appeal was unlikely to have had any effect on the man responsible for Alistair’s death.
Father-of-two Alistair Wilson, 30, was killed at his home in Nairn, a town in the Scottish Highlands, in November 2004. His son Andrew, who was just four at the time (left with his father), last month delivered an emotional appeal for information (right)
Alistair Wilson was shot dead on his doorstep in Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands, pictured
He said: ‘The appeal that Andrew Wilson gave was incredibly emotional, so that will appeal to certain types of people watching. In my view, the emotion won’t appeal at all to the likely suspect from within what I think will be an organised crime network that this killer will have emerged from. They’re simply not going to respond to whether it was emotional or cold and calculating as an appeal.’
Andrew spoke publicly about his father’s death for the first time last month.
‘Someone came to our family home on a Sunday evening while my dad was reading my brother and me bedtime stories after our bath,’ he said, recalling the night of the murder.
‘The next thing I know I am looking at my dad lying in our doorway covered in blood. I don’t really remember much, the only thing that I really remember is that I came down the stairs after it happened and saw my dad lying there and then in kind of all goes blurry and then I just remember being the back of a police car but that’s all I remember that night.
David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, told the BBC’s The Doorstep Podcast such an appeal was unlikely to have had any effect on the man responsible for Alistair’s death
‘I have no memories of my dad at all – that’s the only image I have. I don’t know what his voice is like. I don’t really remember anything.’
Around 7pm that evening Alistair’s wife Veronica opened the door of the house on Crescent Road to a stocky man, aged 30-40, 5ft4in to 5ft7in tall, wearing a dark jacket and baseball cap who asked for him.
He spoke to the man and was handed an empty blue envelope with the word Paul written on it before going back inside to speak to his wife before returning to the door, where he was shot.
Alistair died later that evening in hospital and the antique gun was recovered from a drain near Mr Wilson’s home 10 days after his murder.
No one has been apprehended in connection with the murder and Police Scotland’s major investigation team continues to investigate the case.
At the press conference, police explained they were seeking information on the gun, the ammunition, the blue envelope, and about any other men named Alistair Wilson who might have been the intended target of a violent attack.
Alistair Wilson with his wife Veronica and their two sons in 2002. The case remains unsolved
At the press conference, police explained they were seeking information on the gun, pictured, the ammunition, the blue envelope, and about any other men named Alistair Wilson who might have been the intended target of a violent attack
The lines of inquiry suggest police are still open to the theory that Alistair Wilson was killed in a case of mistaken identity.
But Professor Wilson argues this seems unlikely, pointing out the killer had Mr Wilson’s address.
‘You knock on their door because you know you’re going to find them there,’ he continued. ‘That to me doesn’t imply mistaken identity because you would also have to have their address wrong. That to me implies Alistair Wilson was the intended target.’
Detective Inspector Gary Winter told the podcast Police Scotland had received phone calls regarding guns matching the description, other men named Alistair Wilson and theories on what ‘Paul’ could stand for.